American Hockey League Playoff Game Ends After 5th Overtime

All right, we're going to turn now to quite a moment in sports. There is a reason people call playoff hockey the most grueling two months in sports. It is fast. It is physical. It is long.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Right, but not usually this long. The Lehigh Valley Phantoms and Charlotte Checkers, minor American Hockey League teams, played a game that went into five overtimes.

GREENE: Five overtimes. Yes, the players were still on the ice after six hours, when finally...

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BOB ROTRUCK: Bardreau out in front - (yelling) goal - a goal. Bardreau over Krushelnyski. Alex Krushelnyski scores the winning goal in the fifth overtime, that goal coming 6:48 into the fifth overtime in the longest game in American Hockey League history.

(LAUGHTER)

MARTIN: That guy seems psyched. So that goal for the Phantoms came at 1:10 in the morning. The Phantom's team captain, Colin McDonald, says both teams were pretty banged up by the end.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

COLIN MCDONALD: The emotions right now - I mean, that's almost three full hockey games in one. Like, its just - I'm really proud of the guys and the way they obviously dug deep and found a way to get it done.

GREENE: Yeah, a lot of fans were tweeting that the real hero last night was the Phantoms goalie Alex Lyon. He made 94 saves.

MARTIN: Wow. And when the guy who scored the winning goal, Krushelnyski, was asked what he was most looking forward to after this victory. His answer - bed. Don't blame him. The next game in the quarterfinal series is Saturday night.